BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The usual suspects abstained from voting on a seemingly uncontroversial United Nations resolution that denounced violence against women and girls on Thursday — Iran, Russia, North Korea.
But the country casting the sole vote against the nonbinding resolution, drafted by France and the Netherlands, took the world by surprise. It was Argentina, long considered one of Latin America’s most socially progressive countries.
Unleashing an avalanche of criticism across the political spectrum on Friday, the ‘no’ vote by Buenos Aires marked the latest in a series of under President Javier Milei, the most right-wing leader in Argentina's 41 years of democracy.
It comes just days after Milei, an outspoken climate change skeptic, , Azerbaijan, stirring concerns that the radical economist might seek to emulate former in withdrawing Argentina entirely from the .
Not only has Milei transformed Argentine foreign policy and , his government has also taken fringe positions on the global stage that fly in the face of the liberal, rules-based international order.
“It's a big break with standard Argentine foreign policy, which has long been oriented toward making Argentina an integrated part of the Global South,” said Richard Sanders, a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and former State Department official in the region. “It’s a definitely a significant change in how Argentina relates internationally.”
Argentina's vote at the U.N. Thursday recalled a similar clash last month when Argentina became the only member of all the to sign onto a statement adopting language about gender equality.
“Argentina votes alone, against the rest of humanity,” the conservative party of former President Mauricio Macri, an ally of Milei’s government, wrote on social media platform X Friday.
Another centrist party, the Unión Cívica Radical, joined the chorus of local condemnation.
“By fighting imaginary cultural battles we end up isolated from the world,” said Senator Martín Lousteau, president of the centrist party.
Lousteau denounced Argentina’s U.N. vote opposing an end to gender violence as a “disgrace.” Top official Guillermo Francos defended the decision, saying “neither commitments nor treaties will solve the issue of gender violence.”
Nearly a year into his presidency, the former Argentine TV pundit remains erratic and idiosyncratic in the global spotlight, in striking similarity to Trump. , albeit informally, late Thursday at the president-elect's private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
In a congratulatory phone call with Trump earlier this week, Miei's spokesperson reported that Trump told the Argentine leader: “You're my favorite president." Trump has not confirmed the claim.
The Argentine presidency on Friday proudly released a stream of photos from Mar-a-Lago featuring Milei in a sharp suit beaming alongside Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk, with whom Milei has also publicly over their shared contempt for “wokeness," gender issues and socialism.
In November 2023, an fed up with sky-high inflation, debt defaults and bank runs handed the outsider a sweeping mandate to carry out an overhaul of Argentina's crisis-stricken economy.
But along with Milei's libertarian crusade has come a series of cultural battles — and environment ministries and scrapped the national anti-discrimination institute, as well as abroad, where Milei has sought to fashion himself as a far-right icon, .
“Milei got into the presidency on the basis of his clearly stated libertarian views, it was all about the economy,” Sanders said. “But these other views are nothing he kept hidden.”
Tensions over Milei's culture war escalated this month. When Argentina voted at the U.N. in favor of ending the American economic embargo against Cuba on Oct. 30, Milei over what he called her “unforgivable mistake” and swiftly replaced her with Gerardo Werthein, a wealthy businessman who had been Buenos Aires’ ambassador to the U.S.
This weekend, Milei and Werthein plan to meet Trump again at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida.
to cash in on to help crisis-stricken Argentina secure a much-needed infusion cash infusion from the , to which Argentina owes over $44 billion. The U.S. is the fund’s largest shareholder.
In recent weeks, Milei's shock dismissal of Argentina's top diplomat — a polished political performer who strained by Milei’s profanity-laden fights with traditional allies — has sent shivers through Argentina's diplomatic ranks.
Milei has vowed to purge his foreign ministry of so-called “traitors to the country” who have strayed from his stance, which includes adopted by the U.N. in September that promotes climate action, female empowerment and the regulation of artificial intelligence.
Local media has reported the forced resignations of at least seven diplomats in recent weeks who were perceived as critical of the president's . Milei accuses such multilateral forums of restricting members’ freedom.
Argentina's left-leaning Peronist movement — which has dominated the country's politics for decades — was seething Friday, with lawmakers aghast at what they saw as the unraveling of hard-won social gains like and recent efforts to curb fossil fuels.
“For you, freedom is violence,” said Mayra Mendoza, a prominent Peronist politician on Friday, addressing Milei.
The libertarian has called abortion “murder," climate change a “socialist lie" and the U.N. a “leviathan with multiple tentacles.”
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DeBre reported from Lima, Peru
